So what do you think? Should drug companies have to pay for drugs derived from plants found in rainforests?

by Raymond Colitt
Reuters

BRASILIA - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged rich countries on Tuesday to pay to help curb climate change by protecting tropical forests and reiterated criticism of the United States for its import duties on biofuels.

Lula's message came ahead of next week's United Nations climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, which the world body hopes will lead to negotiations on a new global pact to reduce carbon emissions blamed for global warming.

"The rich countries need to know that in Bali we will discuss in depth the price they must pay so the poorest countries can protect their forests," Lula said during the launch of the United Nations Report on Human Development in the capital Brasilia.

"You are not going to convince the poor anywhere in the world not to cut a tree without the right to a job and food in exchange," the former union leader added.

Brazil, a major developing world trading power with an increasing influence on environmental issues, is a pioneer in producing and using low-emissions ethanol derived from sugar cane and 85 percent of its power generation comes from renewable energy sources.

But its is one of the world's largest carbon gas emitters, due largely to the destruction of the Amazon rain forest. Tropical forests like the Amazon release stored carbon dioxide when trees are burnt or decompose.

Brazil has proposed "positive incentives" financed by rich countries to help protect forests in developing nations. It also wants an international convention to force pharmaceutical companies to pay for drugs derived from plants found in rainforests.

"We are not prepared to be treated as second-class citizens in this debate," Lula said.

Lula also criticized the United States for subsidizing less efficient ethanol derived from corn, while charging duties on imported ethanol made from sugarcane.

"Where is the trade equality, where is the will to clean the planet? ... They could start taxing oil," Lula said.

The former factory workers also ridiculed gas-guzzling vehicles used in developed countries.

"There are cars in parts of the world that are so big they can't turn a corner, with one of those you could make three common cars here in Brazil."

by Anil Penna
Agence France Presse
Sat Nov 24, 2007

From meat, poultry and milk to potatoes, onions and leafy greens, everything consumed on the world's dining tables is feeling the heat from climate change, scientists say.

Researchers are trying to establish the extent to which global warming will affect livestock, plant life and staple crops such as rice to bolster their resistance to disease and breed stronger varieties.

The world's billion poor, whether producers or consumers, will bear the brunt, warned scientists who ended a conference Saturday on agriculture and climate change in Hyderabad, southern India.

"In some ways, the time for doing things is already past," said John McDermott, deputy director of research at the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute. "The changes are already happening."

Rift valley fever, a deadly virus transmitted to sheep, cattle, camels and humans by mosquito bites, is being fuelled by climate change, the scientist said.

The virus is manifesting itself in broader swathes of East Africa and the Middle East because of climate variability in dry regions that helps vectors such as mosquitoes, tsetse flies and ticks to breed and spread, he said.

"What you see are diseases moving into areas where they have not been before, which means sometimes animals are exposed where they haven't been for a long time," he said.

"That leads to more outbreaks," McDermott added.

For the poor, livestock offers a livelihood as well as a savings bank they can tap, selling off their cows or chickens to deal with a health or family emergency.

"These are the people who don't make much of an impact on the ecological footprint of the world," said McDermott.

But they are also the people most at risk from damage wrought on livestock by diseases that could be aggravated by climate-related phenomena.

Scientists are also studying cropping and disease patterns in vegetables -- potatoes and tomatoes to cabbage and spinach, onion and garlic -- to see how they can cope with the stresses brought by global warming and its side-effects.

"If you make it a given that temperatures will go up, water will be a problem -- that will be your worst-case scenario," said Jackie Hughes, deputy director of research at the Shanhua, Taiwan-based World Vegetable Centre.

"You're going to have typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes," she said, adding vegetable growers may have to grow different varieties, use grafting techniques to address flooding and devise rain and insect protection for their crops.

Success in tackling the impact of climate change on crops is important as the world is host to a billion people who are already underweight and under-nourished, Hughes said.

Scientists are also concerned about the potential effect of climate change on potato blight, a weather-driven disease that takes a heavy toll on potato crops.

The pathogen that causes the blight is an "incredibly fast breeder," said Dyno Keatinge, deputy research head of the International Crops Research Institute here.

"So I am worried, you don't see me smiling in complacency," said Keatinge, who comes from Ireland where the disease caused a great famine in the 1840s.

by John Sinnott
Reuters

LONDON - Weather-related disasters have quadrupled over the last two decades, a leading British charity said in a report published on Sunday.

From an average of 120 disasters a year in the early 1980s, there are now as many as 500, with Oxfam attributing the rise to unpredictable weather conditions cause by global warming.

"This year we have seen floods in South Asia, across the breadth of Africa and Mexico that have affected more than 250 million people," said Oxfam's director Barbara Stocking.

"This is no freak year. It follows a pattern of more frequent, more erratic, more unpredictable and more extreme weather events that are affecting more people.

The number of people affected by disasters has risen by 68 percent, from an average of 174 million a year between 1985 to 1994 to 254 million a year between 1995 to 2004.

"Action is needed now to prepare for more disasters otherwise humanitarian assistance will be overwhelmed and recent advances in human development will go into reverse," Stocking said.

Oxfam wants the UN conference on Climate Change in Bali in December to agree a mandate to negotiate a global deal to provide assistance to developing countries to cope with the impacts of climate change and reduce green house gas emissions.

By ELIANE ENGELER
Associated Press Writer

Two of the most important Greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere reached a record high in 2006, and measurements show that one — carbon dioxide — is playing an increasingly important role in global warming, the U.N. weather agency said Friday.

The global average concentrations of carbon dioxide, or CO2, and nitrous oxide, or N2O, in the atmosphere were higher than ever in measurements coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization, said Geir Braathen, a climate specialist at the Geneva-based agency.

Methane, the third of the three important greenhouse gases, remained stable between 2005 and 2006, he said.

Braathen said measurements show that CO2 is contributing more to global warming than previously.

CO2 contributed 87 percent to the warming effect over the last decade, but in the last five years alone, its contribution was 91 percent, Braathen said. "This shows that CO2 is gaining importance as a greenhouse gas," Braathen said.

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose by about half a percent last year to reach 381.2 parts per million, according to the agency. Nitrous oxide totaled 320.1 parts per billion, which is a quarter percent higher than in 2005.

Braathen said it appears the upward trend will continue at least for a few years.

The World Meteorological Organization's annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin provides widely accepted worldwide data on the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Studies have shown that human-produced carbon dioxide emissions heat the Earth's surface and cause greater water evaporation. That leads to more water vapor in the air, which contributes to higher air temperatures. CO2, methane and N2O are the most common greenhouse gases after water vapor, according to the meteorological organization.

They are produced by natural sources, such as wetlands, and by human activities such as fertilizer use or fuel combustion.

There is 36.1 percent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there was in the late 18th century, primarily because of combustion of fossil fuels, the World Meteorological Organization bulletin said.

A report presented by a U.N. expert panel said last week that average temperatures have risen 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years, and that 11 of the last 12 years have been among the warmest since 1850. Global Warming also led to a sea level increase by an average seven-hundredths of an inch per year since 1961, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The panel's report, which said human activity is largely responsible for global warming, noted that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is far higher than the natural range over the last 650,000 years.

The World Meteorological Organization also concluded that "Greenhouse gases are major drivers of global warming and climate change."

The World Meteorological Organization said it based its findings on readings from 44 countries.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecast that by 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages, residents of Asia's large cities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding, Europeans can expect extensive species loss, and North Americans will experience longer and hotter heat waves and greater competition for water.

Agence France Presse

Northern Ireland's only salmon farm was completely wiped out by a freak jellyfish attack, the owners said Wednesday.

More than 100,000 fish worth more than one million pounds (2.1 million dollars, 1.4 million euros) were killed in the invasion at Glenarm Bay and Red Bay, on the County Antrim north-east coast.

"We are still assessing the full extent, but it's a disaster," said John Russell, managing director of Northern Salmon Co. Ltd.

"In 30 years, I've never seen anything like it. It was unprecedented, absolutely amazing. The sea was red with these jellyfish and there was nothing we could do about it, absolutely nothing.

"I have never experienced such concentrations of jellyfish spread over such a wide area. The vastness was unbelievable."

The seven-hour attack over Tuesday and Wednesday last week saw the jellyfish covering a sea area of up to 10 square miles (26 square kilometres) and 35 feet (11 metres) deep.

"It's touch and go if we can survive this," added Russell whose firm supplies salmon worldwide. "It's a disaster."

I've stayed in places where water was only available in homes for a few hours a day, but this is happening in a town in the United States.

By Matthew Bigg
Reuters

ORME, Tennessee - A small town tucked away in the mountains of southern Tennessee is getting by on just a few hours of water a day because its spring has run dry in the drought sweeping the Southeast.

The worst drought to hit the region in decades prompted Georgia to impose water-use restrictions including a ban on outdoor residential watering.

It has also sparked a political battle between Georgia, Alabama and Florida over how to share water from north Georgia's Lake Lanier, which serves cities such as Atlanta as well as industries and a nuclear power plant.

But rural Orme with its population of just 140 people has become a symbol of the drought because few other places appear to have been so directly hit.

Each evening, residents wait for Mayor Tony Reames to make the short drive from his home where he keeps chickens up to a water tower on a wooded hill above the town to open a valve.

When the water is flowing families can fill buckets and water jars, do laundry, take showers and wash dishes before the faucets run dry and they wait for the next evening.

Resident Julie Hoover described Orme as a "hideaway" and a "piece of heaven" because it was safe and everyone knew each other but she said the water shortage had created serious problems.

"People don't like change and they don't like losing their water," said Hoover, who started filling up buckets with water draining from an air-conditioner to get water to flush toilets when the spring ran dry in August.

Hoover and her sisters have also taken to cooking one big family meal for all their children to save water, something she said had proved a blessing.

Sporadic water supply is the norm for much of the world's population but for Orme, near the border of Alabama and Georgia, help is at hand. Local businesses and churches donate bottled water, bringing it to the town's one-room fire house for residents to collect.

Orme received a $377,590 grant from the Department of Agriculture plus a further grant of $229,000 to build a water pipe from Bridgeport, Alabama, to the town's water tower, Reames said.

Workmen laying down sections of the bright blue pipe beneath the side of a road leading to the town move closer each day.

By Guo Shipeng
Reuters

BEIJING - Large areas of south China are suffering from serious drought, with water levels on two major rivers in rice-growing provinces dropping to historic lows, state media said on Tuesday.

Rainfall since the beginning of October had dropped by 90 percent in Jiangxi and 86 percent in neighboring Hunan, the country's largest rice-growing province, from average figures, Xinhua news agency said.

Rice is a staple for most Chinese and a crop which needs a constant supply of water

The Gan and Xiang rivers running through the two provinces had seen their lowest water levels in history, Xinhua said. The shallow water has caused a jam of barges in some sections of the Gan.

Authorities had rushed to ensure drinking water supplies in big cities along the rivers and irrigation of fields by diverting water from reservoirs and installing pumps, Xinhua said.

Water levels on China's longest river, the Yangtze, and on the Pearl River in the southern province of Guangdong had also dropped, Xinhua said.

Drought and floods are perennial problems in China where meteorologists have complained about the increased extreme weather, partly blaming it on climate change.

More than 1,100 Chinese were killed during summer floods this year.

But some parts of the south were hit by weeks of scorching heat and drought in the summer, when as much as a third of farmland was damaged and millions of people were short of drinking water.

It was not immediately clear how much damage had been caused to the rice crop.

The China National Grain and Oils Information Centre early this month estimated rice production this year would rise by 2 percent to 186.5 million tons.

So you try to do the right thing, but do you know where your electronic recycling is going?

"Workers in countries such as China, India and Nigeria then use hammers, gas burners and their bare hands to extract metals, glass and other recyclables, exposing themselves and the environment to a cocktail of toxic chemicals."

By TERENCE CHEA
Associated Press

Most Americans think they're helping the earth when they recycle their old computers, televisions and cell phones. But chances are they're contributing to a global trade in electronic trash that endangers workers and pollutes the environment overseas.

While there are no precise figures, activists estimate that 50 to 80 percent of the 300,000 to 400,000 tons of electronics collected for recycling in the U.S. each year ends up overseas. Workers in countries such as China, India and Nigeria then use hammers, gas burners and their bare hands to extract metals, glass and other recyclables, exposing themselves and the environment to a cocktail of toxic chemicals.

"It is being recycled, but it's being recycled in the most horrific way you can imagine," said Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network, the Seattle-based environmental group that tipped off Hong Kong authorities. "We're preserving our own environment, but contaminating the rest of the world."

The gear most likely to be shipped abroad is collected at free recycling drives, often held each April around Earth Day, recycling industry officials say. The sponsors — chiefly companies, schools, cities and counties — often hire the cheapest firms and do not ask enough questions about what becomes of the discarded equipment, the officials say.

Many so-called recyclers simply sell the working units and components, then give or sell the remaining scrap to export brokers.

"There are a lot of people getting away with exporting e-waste," said John Bekiaris, chief executive of San Francisco-based HMR USA Inc., which collects and disposes of unwanted IT equipment from Bay Area businesses. "Anyone who's disposing of their computer equipment really needs to do a thorough inspection of the vendors they use."

The problem could get worse. Most of the 2 million tons of old electronics discarded annually by Americans goes to U.S. landfills, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. But a growing number of states are banning such waste from landfills, which could drive more waste into the recycling stream and fuel exports, activists say.

Many brokers claim they are simply exporting used equipment for reuse in poor countries. That's what happened in September, when customs officials in Hong Kong were tipped off by environmentalists and intercepted two freight containers. They cracked the containers open and found hundreds of old computer monitors and televisions discarded by Americans thousands of miles away.

China bans the import of electronic waste, so the containers were sent back to the U.S.

Exporting most electronic waste isn't illegal in the United States. The U.S. does bar the export of monitors and televisions with cathode-ray tubes without permission from the importing country, but federal authorities don't have the resources to check most containers.

The EPA recognizes the problem but doesn't believe that stopping exports is the solution, said Matt Hale, who heads the agency's office of solid waste. Since most electronics are manufactured abroad, it makes sense to recycle them abroad, Hale said.

"What we need to do is work internationally to upgrade the standards (for recycling) wherever it takes place," he said.

The EPA is working with environmental groups, recyclers and electronics manufacturers to develop a system to certify companies that recycle electronics responsibly. But so far the various players have not agreed on standards and enforcement.

Many activists believe the answer lies in requiring electronics makers to take back and recycle their own products. Such laws would encourage manufacturers to make products that are easier to recycle and contain fewer dangerous chemicals, they say.

Eight states, including five this year, have passed such laws, and companies such as Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Sony now take back their products at no charge. Some require consumers to mail in their old gear, while others have drop-off centers. HP says it also now designs its equipment with fewer toxic materials and has made it easier to recycle.

__

On the Net:

Basel Action Network: http://www.ban.org/

Computer Take Back Campaign: http://www.computertakeback.com/

International Association of Electronics Recyclers: http://www.iaer.org/

By Jim Loney
Reuters

MIAMI - Loggerhead sea turtles in U.S. Atlantic waters face extinction from commercial fishing and global warming and should be designated an endangered species, two environmental groups said on Thursday.

The ocean conservation group Oceana and the Center for Biological Diversity are petitioning the U.S. government to win better protection for loggerhead habitats and nesting beaches along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.

The petition to be filed on Thursday with the U.S. Commerce Department and the Department of the Interior serves as a warning that the groups could sue the U.S. government if it fails to act to protect the species.

Loggerhead nest counts in Florida have dropped nearly 50 percent in the last decade, according to Florida's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

At the Archie Carr wildlife refuge, one of the key Florida loggerhead nesting areas, nest counts dropped from 15,645 in 2001 to 10,828 in 2006, and appear to be down again this year.

Under U.S. law, an endangered species is "in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range," while a threatened species is "likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future."

Of the six sea turtle species in U.S. waters, the hawksbill, leatherback, Kemp's Ridley and green are listed as endangered and the Olive Ridley and loggerhead are threatened.

A recent five-year study by the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that the designation "threatened" should be maintained for the loggerhead.

Tens of thousands of loggerheads are killed yearly in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico by commercial fishermen, who snare turtles incidentally while going after other species, Oceana said.

"With 90 percent of the U.S. nesting occurring in Florida and a 50 percent decline in nesting over the last decade, it's quite possible these populations will become extinct," said Elizabeth Griffin, a marine scientist at Oceana.

The loggerhead, which can live a century or more, is among the largest of the sea turtle species. They can grow to about 3 1/2 feet and weigh up to 400 pounds (181 kg).

Although loggerhead populations are being decimated by commercial fishing, scientists believe global warming is a greater ongoing threat to loggerheads, said Miyoko Sakashita of the Center for Biological Diversity.

Rising sea levels could destroy Florida nesting beaches, and rising temperatures could dramatically tilt the balance of male and female turtles, endangering the species' reproductive abilities.

"Turtles' gender is determined by temperature. In warmer weather there are fewer males born," she said. "The gender could be skewed toward females. With just a few extra degrees of temperature you get almost all females born."

By Jill Serjeant

Reuters

LOS ANGELES - A team of "Drought Busters" driving hybrid Toyota Prius cars was dispatched throughout Los Angeles on Tuesday to educate residents on water waste as the city struggles with a record drought.

Water authorities said the six-person team would give written notices to Angelenos caught wasting water as well as handing out advice on how to cut excessive water use.

Fines are not envisaged at the moment but officials left open the possibility that the Drought Busters could impose penalties if record low rainfall persists.

"We are not in the mandatory water conservation phase at this point and we will not be writing fines," the city's Department of Water and Power chief, Robert Rozanski, said.

He said the Drought Busters "will be informing residents of any violations we see or hear about and give them conservation tips."

Under new city laws, Angelenos are prohibited from using water to hose down sidewalks, water their lawns in the daytime or allow their lawn sprinklers to flood gutters.

Restaurants can serve water to customers only if requested. A telephone hotline for neighbors to snitch on violators has also been set up.

Los Angeles this year suffered its driest year since rainfall records began 130 years ago, with only 3.2 inches (8.1 cm) recorded in the downtown area.

The tinder-dry conditions helped fuel a series of wildfires in Southern California last month that destroyed 2,300 buildings, caused 12 deaths and burned more than 500,000 acres.

“GO GREEN” WITH YOUR WIRELESS PHONE

Verizon Wireless Tips for Consumers and Businesses to Recycle, Reuse and Reduce

America Recycles Day is Nov. 15 and Verizon Wireless encourages all wireless customers in Montgomery County to help make a difference by recycling their no-longer-used wireless phones, batteries and equipment. Verizon Wireless was the first wireless carrier in the nation to collect and recycle old wireless phones and offers the following tips on how to ‘go green’ while saving money, the environment – and quite possibly, someone’s life.

RECYCLE : Consumers and businesses can recycle their no-longer-used wireless phones through the Verizon Wireless HopeLine ^® program. HopeLine accepts wireless phones, batteries and accessories in any condition from any manufacturer or service provider. Simply drop-off no-longer-used phones, batteries and accessories at any Verizon Wireless Communications Store and the company says it will dispose of them in an environmentally sound way. To date, HopeLine has:

• Kept more than 200 tons of electronics waste and batteries out of landfills.

• Collected nearly 4.4 million wireless phones.

• Properly disposed of more than one million wireless phones.

REUSE: Phones collected through HopeLine are refurbished, resold and reused whenever possible . Proceeds from HopeLine are used to provide wireless phones and cash grants for Montgomery County shelters and non-profit organizations that focus on domestic violence prevention and awareness. As a result of HopeLine, Verizon Wireless has donated:

• More than $4 million in cash grants to shelters and non-profit organizations from coast to coast .

• More than 45,000 phones with airtime and other features, valued at more than $13 million, to domestic violence prevention organizations.

• Thousands of dollars in grant support for local shelters like Laurel House Domestic Violence Shelter.

REDUCE: When left plugged in, empty cell-phone chargers consume standby or ‘phantom’ energy – the same goes for all chargers. To help save energy and energy costs, consumers should plug all electronic chargers into a power strip and switch it off when the chargers are not in use. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates appliances and home electronics are responsible for about 20 percent of a typical home’s energy bill – simply unplugging appliances, electronics and their chargers when not in use can save each household hundreds of dollars a year.

For store locations and additional information about HopeLine, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

Climate change endangers Alaska's coastal villages

By Yereth Rosen
Reuters

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - At risk from surging storm waves and floods, Alaska's coastal villagers are dealing with the immediate consequences of climate change -- threats to their health, safety and even their ancestors' graves.

The rapid erosion of the state's coastline is blamed on the scarcity of sea ice and thawing of permafrost. Without solid ice to shield the land, and without hard-frozen conditions to keep it held fast, encroaching waves and floods easily carve large chunks from shorelines or riverbanks.

"People are dying and getting injured as a result of trying to engage in traditional activities in much-changing conditions," said Deborah Williams, a former Interior Department official who heads an Alaska organization focused on climate change.

Alaska is heating up more dramatically than other regions because increases in temperature are accelerated in the far north, according to climate scientists.

That is largely because of a self-reinforcing warming cycle: the melt of white snow and disappearance of white ice exposes more dark land and water, which in turn absorb more solar radiation, which in turn causes more melting.

In Newtok, a village on Alaska's western coast, floods routinely spread human waste from portable toilets -- a necessity due to the lack of running water -- across the community.

Village administrator Stanley Tom links the sewage spread to a rise in infants being hospitalized for upper-respiratory infections like pneumonia over a 10-year period.

In the villages along northwest Alaska's Norton Sound, fall storms are bringing floods that turn land-based communities into islands.

Shaktoolik, a Bering Sea village that is one of the last checkpoints in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, becomes an island during heavy storms due to erosion that has erased much of the land link to the rest of the Seward Peninsula.

"They have no option to leave the community in the event of a storm," said Steve Ivanoff, tribal administrator of nearby Unalakleet, who says the increased intensity of flooding is also a problem in his village.

Residents in Unalakleet are starting to relocate their homes to the inland hills, away from the traditional coastal community, he said.

DISAPPEARING GRAVES

The rapid erosion is also affecting the dead.

In Barrow, the northernmost community in North America, a project is under way to move human remains from millennium-old grave sites that were undisturbed until erosion started biting off chunks of shoreline lined with graves.

So far, the ancient remains of about 50 people have been excavated, said Anne Jensen, the archeologist in charge of the project. The goal is to rebury the remains in Barrow's modern cemetery.

The environmental changes also make travel treacherous.

"Every winter there is the issue of village residents, especially hunters, who try to cross a river at a time it's traditionally been safe, but now it isn't," said James Berner, community health services director for the Anchorage-based Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

A young hunter died earlier this year after falling into thin ice in Shishmaref, an eroding Inupiat Eskimo village often characterized as the place experiencing the most dramatic effects of climate change. It was the first such death in decades, according to local officials.

In some cases, the long-term solution is to move entire villages, projects that are anticipated to cost at least $100 million per community.

"chunks of ice the size of six-story buildings could be seen floating off the coast after breaking away from ice shelves."

By Juan Jose Lagorio

Reuters

EDUARDO FREI BASE, Antarctica - With prehistoric Antarctic ice sheets melting beneath his feet, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for urgent political action to tackle global warming.

The Antarctic Peninsula has warmed faster than anywhere else on Earth in the last 50 years, making the continent a fitting destination for Ban, who has made climate change a priority since he took office earlier this year.

"I need a political answer. This is an emergency and for emergency situations we need emergency action," he said during a visit to three scientific bases on the barren continent, where temperatures are their highest in about 1,800 years.

Antarctica's ice sheets are nearly 1.5 miles thick on average -- five times the height of the Taipei 101 tower, the world's tallest building. But scientists say they are already showing signs of climate change.

Satellite images show the West Antarctic ice sheet is thinning and may even collapse in the future, causing sea levels to rise.

Amid occasional flurries of snow, Ban flew over melting ice fields in a light plane, where vast chunks of ice the size of six-story buildings could be seen floating off the coast after breaking away from ice shelves.

"All we've seen has been very impressive and beautiful, extraordinarily beautiful," he said late on Friday. "But at the same time it's disturbing. We've seen ... the melting of glaciers."

MELTING

Ban is preparing for a U.N. climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December, which is expected to kick off talks on a new accord to curb carbon emissions after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

Ban has focused strongly on the environment and held a climate change summit at the United Nations on the eve of the annual General Assembly gathering of world leaders.

On Saturday, he continued his South American tour at Chilean national park Torres del Paine, taking a helicopter tour over Patagonian ice fields that scientists say are melting fast. Ban was flown over a glacier marked by large cracks from ice that has melted and broken away.

"(Climate) change is progressing much faster than I had thought," he said, calling on developed countries in particular to do more.

Ban, the first U.N. chief to visit Antarctica, was also due to visit the Amazon rain forest in Brazil, a leading force in developing biofuels from crops as an alternative to fossil fuels. Fears about climate change have fueled a boom in biofuels.

Despite the controversy of diverting food crops into fuel production, Ban has said alternative energy sources are vital to addressing climate change.

Antarctica -- a continent with only about 80,000 temporary residents -- is 25 percent bigger than Europe and its ice sheets hold 90 percent of the fresh water on the Earth's surface.

By Dana Ford
Sun Nov 11, Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO - Clean-up efforts for a 58,000-gallon (220,000-liter) oil spill in San Francisco Bay expanded on Sunday as federal officials assessed damage that has closed beaches, threatened the crabbing season and killed scores of birds.

"This is an incident which, in my view, should not have happened," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a former San Francisco mayor, at a news conference after touring the affected areas. "I think we can improve the system to manage shipping traffic in and out, in all kinds of weather conditions."

The Cosco Busan container ship struck a tower of the Bay Bridge on Wednesday in fog, slashing a nearly 100 foot gash that allowed bunker fuel to spill.

The Coast Guard ruled out mechanical error as the cause of the area's worst spill in nearly two decades.

"Based on the Coast Guard's preliminary investigation, there appears there was nothing mechanically wrong with the vessel," said Petty Officer Mariana O'Leary, who stopped short of saying human error was responsible.

The National Transportation Safety Board is launching an investigation into the cause of the spill.

The Coast Guard said nearly 60 ships and 800 workers were now involved in cleanup efforts, which have recovered some 12,200 gallons of oil so far. The spill has killed 171 birds, while another 372 have been recovered.

Initial spill story

By Amanda Beck

Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO - A container ship bound for China struck a fog-shrouded tower of San Francisco's Bay Bridge on Nov. 7, causing a fuel spill and forcing the closure of several San Francisco beaches, officials said.

People near the spill reported suffering headaches and nausea as they breathed air containing vaporized oil, but public health officials said the fumes were not likely to have long-term health effects.

Four picturesque beaches on both sides of the landmark Golden Gate Bridge -- Baker, Fort Point, China, and Crissy Field -- were closed, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

"There is a sheen in the water. It is bunker fuel," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Kevin Neff about oil used to propel the ship.

Wil Bruhns, supervising engineer of San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, said the oil could pose a threat to wildlife like seals, fish and birds.

"Bunker fuel oil tends to be rather heavy, and it doesn't float as well as other oil. It's harder to contain," Bruhns said.

The Cosco Busan, a China COSCO Holdings Co Ltd vessel, left the Port of Oakland at 6:31 a.m. on Wednesday and about two hours later hit a fender around a support tower on an especially foggy morning.

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDINGS

Trappe, PA - The Speaker's House will hold its second annual meeting on Ursinus College campus, Musser Auditorium in Pfahler Hall on Monday, December 3, 2007. A "meet and greet" held from 7 - 8 pm will be followed by a brief business meeting and presentation at 8 pm. The annual meeting is a free event and no reservations are required.

The annual meeting will highlight accomplishments from 2007 and discuss plans for the upcoming year. During the "meet and greet," members of the Board of Trustees will be on hand to discuss the project.

This year's presentation will feature Kim Morrell the project archaeologist who led the excavation that took place at the Speaker's House during the summer of 2007. Ms. Morrell will discuss the significance of the artifacts that were found and the outbuildings that were located, and show how this information is synthesized to give a glimpse of life in the Muhlenberg household. Kim Morrell has more than 15 years of experience in cultural resources management and has participated in the excavation of more than 100 archaeological sites in the United States.

Originally founded as Save the Speaker's House Inc, the mission of The Speaker's House is to restore, preserve, and interpret the home of Frederick A. Muhlenberg, first Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Muhlenberg's house stands at 151 W. Main in Trappe and will be undergoing a multiyear restoration project to stabilize and restore the property to its appearance during the Muhlenberg family's residence, 1781-1803. For more information, please call (610) 489-2105 or visit www.speakershouse.org.

Thousands of bananas wash up on shore

The Associated Press

Thousands of bananas washed up on two Dutch North Sea islands on Wednesday after at least six containers fell off a cargo ship in a storm and one burst open, a local official said.

"I think everybody on the island has a bunch now," said Gossen Buren, a shipping official at the local lighthouse.

A half-mile stretch of beach on Terschelling island, 70 miles north of Amsterdam, was littered with bunches of unripe fruit, Buren said. Bananas also washed up on neighboring Ameland island.

Terschelling residents are no strangers to stuff turning up on their beach; a year ago thousands of tennis shoes, aluminum briefcases and children's toys washed ashore, drawing crowds of treasure-hunting residents. Some 20 years ago it was a load of sweaters.

Plenty of beachcombers came early Wednesday for a look, said Buren, "but not as many as when we had the sneakers."

Buren said he hadn't tasted any of the bananas to see if they were salty. "It still looks pretty green," he said.

It wasn't immediately clear what would happen to the bananas. Buren said some locals had suggested sending them to nearby zoos.

Some Montgomery County Boy Scouts and those who taught them their survival skills should be proud of their actions.

By Melissa Brooks
Times Chronicle
Oct. 24, 2007

Members of a local Boy Scout troop carried an injured woman about three miles to safety on a stretcher they constructed with tree branches and sweatshirts Oct. 20.

The Scouts and their leaders had stopped to eat lunch during a hike on Blue Mountain in northern Berks County when they spotted a woman staggering.
Chris Gallagher, Troop 226 Scoutmaster and Cheltenham Township police officer, said they caught up with Jane B. Scholl, 41, of Mohnton, Pa., on the narrow, rocky trail.
Scholl, who was hiking with a friend, fell when she was looking for a good spot to take pictures at the Pinnacle, a popular overlook.
According to Gallagher she attempted to continue hiking another six miles to her car. "There was no way," he said. "She couldn't even walk straight."
Gallagher, also a Cheltenham EMT and volunteer firefighter, said Scholl was bleeding from the face. He and Scout leader Andy Swartz, a Cheltenham Township paramedic and volunteer firefighter, examined Scholl and found she had slurred speech, was dizzy and confused - all classic head injury symptoms, Gallagher said.
Gallagher considered himself "lucky" to have a cell phone signal on the mountain. He dialed 911 while the older Scouts helped Scholl to an area where she could sit down.
After calling for help, Gallagher caught up with the troop and found they had already made a stretcher, he said, something they learned to earn First Aid merit badges.
Swartz's son, Andrew, 17, an Abington High School student who just became an Eagle Scout; Bill Bowman, 14, a Cheltenham High School student; and Gallagher's daughter, Megan, 14, a CHS student and member of Venturing Crew, a youth development program of the Boy Scouts of America, found two big tree limbs, about 6-feet-long by 4-inches-thick, to serve as poles for the stretcher. The Scouts took off their sweatshirts and fed the sleeves for Scholl's body to rest on.
Swartz said his younger son, Nicholas, 13, walked ahead to a landing zone with Scholl's friend and a cell phone to meet paramedics and a fire crew while the rest of the Scouts took turns carrying Scholl two and a half miles.
According to Gallagher, Scholl kept saying she wanted to sleep so the teens talked to her to keep her awake during the 45-minute walk to the medevac helicopter.
"They've treated cuts and fractures before but never carried anyone like this," he said.
Scholl was flown to Reading Hospital, where she was treated for a concussion and cuts and bruises and released Oct. 21.
A fanfare of fellow Scouts, Rockledge and Cheltenham police officers and Cheltenham, Second Alarmers and Burholme EMS welcomed the group back to the troop's headquarters, St. Timothy's Lutheran Church in Philadelphia. The troop's drum and bugle corps played.
Gallagher's wife and Megan's mother, Kaye, leader of the troop's Venturing Crew, said, "They work hard on their merit badges and to be able to implement those skills out in the field like that, it's incredible."
Gallagher said the Boy Scouts of America are aware of the troop's rescue efforts and are determining how they will be honored.
"The kids were amazing," he said. "Nothing they were asked to do was too much. It made me feel very proud."